USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Accepting 2021 EQIP Applications through December 18, 2020

LITTLE ROCK, November 16, 2020 – Farmers and landowners in Arkansas have until Dec. 18, 2020, to submit applications to receive financial assistance to implement conservation activities through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for the 2021 program year.  Applicants can sign up at their local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service field service center.

Assistance is available to help farmers and landowners plan and implement conservation practices to improve water quality, build healthier soil, improve grazing and forest lands, conserve energy, enhance organic operations, establish or improve wildlife habitat and achieve other environmental benefits on the landscape.  NRCS accepts program applications continuously. However, to be considered for funding during this signup applications must be received by Dec. 18, 2020.  Applications received after this date will be considered in later funding periods, subject to funding availability.

EQIP contracts provide financial assistance to help plan and implement conservation practices to improve soil health, water quality, improve grazing and forest lands, and establish or improve wildlife habitat. EQIP can also help Arkansas farmers and landowners meet Federal, State, and local environmental regulations.

Additionally, NRCS offers special initiatives, including:

  • Organic Initiative - helps producers install conservation practices on certified organic operations or those working toward organic certification.
  • On-Farm Energy Initiative - helps producers conserve energy on their operations.
  • StrikeForce – additional assistance for underserved producers in 48 persistent poverty counties: Arkansas, Bradley, Chicot, Clark, Colombia, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Hempstead, Howard, Jackson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Phillips, Randolph, Searcy, Sevier, St. Francis, Woodruff, Ashley, Clay, Conway, Craighead, Crittenden, Franklin, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jefferson, Johnson, Lincoln, Madison, Miller, Montgomery, Poinsett, Polk, Scott, Sebastian, Sharp, Stone, Union, and Van Buren.
  • Working Lands for Wildlife Initiative - provides financial and technical assistance to producers to enhance early successional habitat to aid in bobwhite quail recovery.
  • Arkansas Groundwater Initiative (AGWI) - targeted approach to address critical groundwater decline issues in the Arkansas Delta, providing assistance to agricultural producers in seven counties: Arkansas, Prairie; and portions of Craighead, Cross, Lonoke, Poinsett, St. Francis.
  • Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership – the Building Resilient Watersheds to Improve Drinking Water in the Ozark and Ouachita Highlands project area includes sites in six high-priority watersheds covering more than five million acres and is designed to replace degraded and undersized stream crossings, restore shortleaf pine forests, construct permanent fire breaks, reduce fuel loads and conduct controlled burns.
  • National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) – provides financial and technical assistance to improve water quality and aquatic habitats in priority watersheds with impaired streams. Projects include: Brush Creek-Roberts Creek in Washington and Madison counties; Greasy Creek-Strawberry River in Fulton county; and Departee Creek in Independence, White, and Jackson counties.
  • Mississippi River Basin Initiative (MRBI) – provides assistance to improve water quality in the following priority watersheds: Candy Creek in portions of St. Francis and Lee counties; Twin Creeks in portions of Cross, Woodruff, and St Francis counties; Canal 43 in portions of Desha, Drew, and Chicot counties; Lower Strawberry in portions of Izard and Sharp counties; Cache River in portions of Woodruff and Jackson counties; Cadron Creek-Brewer Lake in portions of Faulkner and Conway counties; Lower St Francis in portions of Crittenden, Cross, and St Francis counties; Middle Cache in portions of Jackson and Woodruff counties; and Upper Lower St Francis in portions of Clay and Greene counties.

All applications will be evaluated for funding based on local, state and nationally developed criteria to optimize environmental benefits. Applications ranking highest in a funding category will be funded according to priority and is subject to availability of program funds.

For more information, visit http://www.ar.nrcs.usda.gov/ or contact the local USDA/NRCS field

Announcements

  • Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Impaired Waters Data Update here
  • Arkansas’s Final/ Draft Impaired Waterbodies – 303(d) List by Year here
  • AR Water Newsletter, Summer, 2015 here
  • NPS Management Plan (PDF) here
  • The projects presented at the 2015 annual NPS conference are located here

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